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Samsung pledges no injunctions against rivals
2013-10-18 09:19:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) Samsung has agreed to not seek injunction against competitors accused of infringement of its standards-essential patents, as part of a proposal to settle the competition investigation by the European Commission. The Commission opened its investigation into Samsung in January 2012, amid concerns Samsung was abusing its dominant position by seeking court injunctions to block sales of rivals' phones. In particular, Samsung was targeting Apple in a case alleging Apple infringed Samsung's patents on technology essential to the UMTS standard. The EC said that seeking an injunction could violate a company's commitment to license standards-essential patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, especially if the other company is willing to enter into a licence agreement on FRAND terms. To address these concerns, Samsung has proposed to commit for a period of five years not to seek any injunctions on the basis of any of its SEPs, present and future, that relate to technologies implemented in smartphones and tablets against any company that agrees to a particular licensing framework. Samsung would be expected to negotiate for up to 12 months with any willing licensee, and if no agreement is reached, a court or abritrator may set the terms of a licence. Samsung's proposals are now open for market comments, after which the EC will decide whether to make the commitments legally binding or continue to competition proceedings against Samsung.
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Category:Telecommunications